Notes for 48HFP Filmmakers

We put this into an update for filmmakers in the San Francisco 48 Hour Film Project. Then we realized that it’s good advice for 48HFP folks all over.

Putting your Films Online

We want you to get the most out of your film, so we’ve requested that teams not “leak” their films online prior to the screening night. BUT, we do think you should put your new property in play on YouTube or Vimeo. So plan to make the most of your big premiere, and then have a version ready to upload soon afterward. If you want to get maximum exposure, we recommend that you title your film in a way that will make it easy for others to find. The pattern we find that is most common and effective is:

Your Title – 48 Hour Film Project San Francisco 2010

This allows your movie to show up in search results more often, and it allows other filmmakers to link to you readily. It will also have your film appear in the “related content’ section on YouTube when people are watching other 48HFP films.

Also take the opportunity to give credit to the people who worked hard to make the movie with you. Be sure to put full credits in the “Description” field so that people searching for your talented team members can find this example of their work.

Last thing on this matter. Don’t dismiss YouTube because of the amount of junk it contains, or simply because the knowledgeable filmmaker knows about many other snazzier, more advanced platforms for online placement. YouTube is where the people are at — it’s where the search engines catalog and index your film, and it’s a good place to connect to other filmmakers who may be interesting to you in your next project.

Joining the Buzz

The social media platform is allowing all of us in every walk of life to connect to more people than ever before. This year in San Francisco and San Jose, we’re using Facebook and Twitter very heavily to get the word out about your films. You can help by doing a couple of things. On Facebook, be sure to join our community at this page, and feel free to post updates, or comment on the updates that appear on the page. We especially like to see your production stills, or video from your outtakes reel or your movie’s trailer. Be sure and invite all of your team members to join the page and engage with the conversation. The more actively you engage with the community, the more value you bring back in the form of new connections and resources.

On Twitter, we’ve been tracking the #48hfp hash tag and it allows us to keep an eye on 48HFP filmmakers around the world. If you’re not using an advanced Twitter stream reader like Tweetdeck or Seesmic, we recommend that you check one of them out right away. Then be sure you follow us (San Francisco 48HFP, and San Jose 48HFP) so that you can keep an eye on your colleagues and competitors in the Bay Area. Remember that when you post on Twitter, adding a hashtag like #film, #48hfp, #indieMM, or #movie will allow your post to be seen by people other than your direct followers.

On YouTube, it’s a good idea to become a friend of our sanjose48hfp account. We maintain playlists of all the 48 Hour Films we can find. There is a collection from each of the past 4 years in San Francisco, every single year of the San Jose event, and playlists for each previous year for films made outside of our cities. When you’re interested in studying what other 48HFP filmmakers are doing, this is a great place to get started.